Students return to Newtown classrooms

Newtown returned its students to their classrooms Tuesday for the first time since last week’s massacre and faced the agonizing task of laying others to rest, as this grieving town wrestled with the same issues gripping the country: violence, gun control and finding a way forward.

Gallery: Newtown memorial balloon release

Funerals took place for two more of the tiny fallen, a 6-year-old boy and a 6-year-old girl.

A total of 26 people were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School in one of the worst mass shootings in U.S history. The gunman also killed his mother in her home before committing suicide.

The resumption of classes at all Newtown’s schools except Sandy Hook brought a return of familiar routines, something students seemed to welcome as they arrived aboard buses festooned with large green-and-white ribbons — the colors of the stricken elementary school.

“We’re going to be able to comfort each other and try and help each other get through this, because that’s the only way we’re going to do it,” said 17-year-old P.J. Hickey, a senior at Newtown High School. “Nobody can do this alone.”

Still, he noted: “There’s going to be no joy in school. It really doesn’t feel like Christmas anymore.”

At St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Newtown, back-to-back funerals took place for first-graders James Mattioli and Jessica Rekos, the third and fourth so far and the first of eight to be held in the coming days at the church. Memorial services and wakes were also held for some of the adult victims.

As mourners gathered outside, a motorcade led by police motorcycles arrived for the funeral of little James, who especially loved recess and math and who was described by his family as a “numbers guy” who couldn’t wait until he was old enough to order a foot-long Subway sandwich.

Traffic in front of the church slowed to a crawl as police directed vehicles into the parking lot. A school bus carrying elementary students got stuck in traffic, and the children, pressing their faces into the windows, sadly watched as the mourners assembled.

Inside the church, James’ mother stood and remembered him.

“It was very somber, it was very sad, it was very moving,” said Clare Savarese, who taught the boy in preschool and recalled him as “a lovely little boy, a sweet little angel.”

The service had not concluded when mourners began arriving for the funeral of Jessica, who loved horses and was counting the years until she turned 10, when her family had promised her a horse of her own. For Christmas, she had asked Santa for new cowgirl boots and hat.

“We are devastated, and our hearts are with the other families who are grieving as we are,” her parents, Rich and Krista Rekos, said in a statement.

At a wake for 27-year-old first-grade teacher Victoria Soto, hundreds of mourners, many wearing green-and-white ribbons, stood in a line that wrapped around a funeral home in nearby Stratford.

“Big smile, great eyes, just a wonderful person,” Lauren Ostrofsky said of Soto, who was killed as she tried to shield her students from the gunman. “If anyone could be an example of what a person should be today, it’s her.”

Tensions in the shattered community ran high as the grief of parents and townspeople collided with the crush of media reporting on the shootings and the funerals.

Police walked children to parents waiting in cars to protect them from the cameras. Many parents yelled at reporters to leave their children and the town alone.

At Newtown High School, students in sweat shirts and jackets, many wearing headphones, had mixed reactions. Some waved at or snapped photos of the assembled media horde, while others appeared visibly shaken.

Students said they didn’t get much work done Tuesday and spent much of the day talking about the terrible events of last Friday, when 20-year-old Adam Lanza, clad all in black, broke into Sandy Hook Elementary and opened fire on students and staff.

“It’s definitely better than just sitting at home watching the news,” said sophomore Tate Schwab. “It really hasn’t sunk in yet. It feels to me like it hasn’t happened.”

As for concerns about safety, some students were defiant.

“This is where I feel the most at home,” Hickey said. “I feel safer here than anywhere else in the world.”

Still, some parents were apprehensive.

Priscilla and Randy Bock, arriving with their 15-year-old special needs son, James, expressed misgivings. “I was not sure we wanted him going,” Priscilla Bock said. “I’m a mom. I’m anxious.”

“Is there ever a right day? I mean, you just do it, you know, just get them back to school,” said Peter Muckell as he took 8-year-old daughter Shannon, a third-grader, to Hawley Elementary.

At one Newtown school, students found some comfort from Ronan, an Australian shepherd therapy dog from Good Dog Foundation in New York.

Owner Lucian Lipinsky took the dog to a fifth-grade science and math class where students were having difficulty coping with the tragedy. Most started smiling immediately.

Lipinsky told the students they could whisper their secrets into Ronan’s ear.

“It’s pretty amazing how a lot of kids will just go whisper in his ear and tell them their secret, and, of course, he doesn’t tell anyone,” Lipinsky said. “He’s a very good dog.”

Authorities say the horrific events of Friday began when Lanza shot his mother, Nancy, at their home, then took her car and some of her guns to the nearby school, where he broke in and opened fire, killing 20 children and six adults before shooting himself.

A Connecticut official said the mother, a gun enthusiast who practiced at shooting ranges, was found dead in her pajamas in bed, shot four times in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.

Investigators have found no letters or diaries that could explain the attack, even as more fragments of Lanza’s life emerged.

As a teenager, Lanza was so painfully shy that he would not speak or look at anyone when he came in for a haircut about every six weeks, always accompanied by his mother, said stylists in the Newtown hair salon Lanza frequented.

Cutting Adam Lanza’s hair “was a very long half an hour. It was a very uncomfortable situation,” stylist Diane Harty said, adding that she never heard his voice.

Another stylist, Jessica Phillips, said Nancy Lanza would give her son directions about what to do and where to go. He would move only “when his mother told him to,” said a third stylist, Bob Skuba.

Meanwhile, the tragedy continued to reverberate around America.

Lanza is believed to have used a Bushmaster AR-15-style rifle, a civilian version of the military’s M-16. It is similar to the weapon used in a recent shopping mall shooting in Oregon and other deadly attacks around the U.S.

Private equity firm Cerberus Capital Management announced Tuesday it plans to sell its stake in Freedom Group, maker of the Bushmaster rifle, following the school shootings.

Cerberus said in a statement that it was deeply saddened by Friday’s events and will hire a financial adviser to help with the process of selling its Freedom Group interests.

In Pittsburgh, Dick’s Sporting Goods said it is suspending sales of modern rifles nationwide because of the shooting. The company also said it’s removing all guns from display at its store closest to Newtown.

At the same time, the outlines of a national debate on gun control began to take shape.

A former co-chairman of the Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus, Rep. Mike Thompson, D-Calif., and 10-term House Republican Jack Kingston, a Georgia lawmaker elected with strong National Rifle Association backing, were the latest to join the call to consider gun control as part of a comprehensive, anti-violence effort next year.

“Put guns on the table. Also put video games on the table. Put mental health on the table,” Kingston said.

But he added that nothing should be done immediately, saying, “There is a time for mourning and a time to sort it out. I look forward to sorting it out and getting past the grief stage.”

White House spokesman Jay Carney said President Barack Obama was “actively supportive” of a plan by Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., to introduce legislation to reinstate an assault weapons ban. While Obama has long supported a ban, he did little to get it passed during his first term.

Meanwhile, the National Rifle Association, silent since the shootings, said in a statement that it was “prepared to offer meaningful contributions to help make sure this never happens again.” It gave no indication what that might entail.

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Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Allen G. Breed, Helen O’Neill, John Christoffersen and Pat Eaton-Robb in Newtown; Katie Zezima in Stratford; and Christine Armario in Miami.